


Inheritance

by iori_sempai



Category: BlazBlue
Genre: Clones, Gen, Human Experimentation, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Mostly Gen, Post-Canon, for now
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-10
Updated: 2016-01-10
Packaged: 2018-05-12 22:32:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5683399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iori_sempai/pseuds/iori_sempai
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How long can the dead haunt the living? As long as you let them.</p><p>  <em>“Your name?” the man asks, voice trembling slightly.</em></p><p>  <em>Being put on the spot so suddenly makes him anxious. “S-” Sample Number 23, he is about to say, before he stops himself. No. He is away from that place, he is on the surface, and he will never answer to those words again. “I… I don’t have a name,” he answers, moving to cover the bracelet on his wrist.</em> </p><p>  <em>“Then your name will be Ragna,” the man tells him. “You’ll stay with me from now on.”</em></p>
            </blockquote>





	Inheritance

**Author's Note:**

> As of now, I’m not sure when the next chapter will be written… but this fic’s been rolling around my head (and my hard drive) for so long, I figured I might as well let it get some time in the light.

_“All levels are normal. Proceed with the smelting as scheduled.”_

_“Sample 20 will be exposed in 3… 2… 1!”_

_“What’s happening?!”_

_“These numbers… they’re off the charts! Sample 20 is going out of control!_

_"Close the gate! Now!”_

A loud explosion, rock and metal colliding as the blast tears through the facility. The ceiling crumbles overhead and misses him just barely, instead smashing through one wall of his cell. Dust pours out from the debris, stinging at his eyes and making it harder to breathe, but he has to get out. Ever since he was born, he’d had a single truth in his mind: if he stays in his place, he will die.

He pulls his shirt over his mouth, the metal bracelet on his wrist jingling with the quick movement. He’s never experienced the whole laboratory, but he’s heard that they are deep underground, has ridden the elevators, and knows that whatever he does, he needs to go _up_.

Squeezing through the opening of his cell out into the hallway, he runs without direction. What little of the facility he’d seen before is now totally different. Large machines and shelves are upended, pitched onto the floors; some walls have broken apart while doorways are blocked or collapsed.

He tries not to pay attention to anything that would distract him, most especially the traces of unfortunate victims that had been caught in the destruction. Despite himself, his gaze always flickers to the wrists of their bodies. His chest pulses whenever he catches the silver of an identification bracelet, but he represses the pain as best he can, thinking, _That could be me if I don’t get out of here soon_.

Even the screams and pleading of the still living become terrible background noise if he focuses hard enough.

“Number 23…! Please…” This voice, he recognizes. Against his better judgement, he turns his head. One of the adults he’d caught glimpses of outside his cell, a light-haired man with round glasses with a large slab of concrete over his lower half. The pooling blood suggests how badly his legs had been mauled by its heavy weight. “Help me…”

He knows that it’s too late to save him, that he can’t stop, for anything or anyone–- but there’s still a sense of muddy satisfaction when he looks down at that half-delirious, agonized face, then purposely averts his eyes.

Getting to the surface seems like it just might be impossible when he reaches the main elevator hall and finds it completely wrecked. Only through sheer luck does he chance upon a smaller service elevator still in working order away from the carnage.

He prays that it won’t break in the middle of his transit. Waiting for the elevator to descend feels like forever, until the doors finally open. The elevator might not be able to take him to the surface, but any level that was higher and less damaged would be better than this one.

He holds his breath as he presses the ground floor button. The elevator stalls in its rise. Then, it shoots upward. He can see the depth reading flickering by on the digital display, until he’s finally reached the upper levels of the facility. Just as hope begins to fill his chest, there’s a loud, bone-jarring _crash_ right into the roof of the elevator.

The large blow dents the ceiling and slows its movement to a terrifying crawl. Worst yet, he can feel the shaft rumbling, like there’s more to come. The 5th level will have to do for now–- hopefully it would have another operational elevator, or stairway to lead him to the surface.

He mashes the button until the doors open, and slides out of the elevator just as the quake begins to intensify. After a quick look over the room, he spots an emergency map on one of the walls. No one would have use for it anymore… He peels it off the wall, frame and all, and follows the red line drawn on it toward the emergency exit.

Thankfully the damage is not nearly as bad as he’d feared. His fingers are trembling and his throat burns with every heaving breath he takes, but those things fade to nothing once he steps into the emergency stairwell. Lined with steel and caging, it looks unbreakable, and hadn’t been touched by the disaster below.

He could finally leave this suffocating, dark hole. No more tests, no more doctors, no more “Sample Number 23.”

He is _free_.

The apprehension of such a heavy truth lags far behind his excitement and joy, but it’s still present. He does not have time to dwell on it. People would be on the way to investigate once the cave-ins stopped, and they would not let him go without a word.

He climbs the stairs up all five levels, to the ground floor, until the only thing between him and the outside world is a single steel door standing in his way. He presses his fingers against the switch and–-

A shrill, angry beep, and a flash of red.

“Access denied,” comes a clear synthetic voice. His heart falls right into his stomach. Access denied? They wouldn’t let him out… wouldn’t let any of them out, even in the event of an emergency? Since the beginning, those researchers had been planning to bury them all if necessary.

Tears of frustration burn behind his eyes, but he doesn’t let himself break, not just yet. He slams his fists against the door, even knowing the chance of anyone ever hearing him to be almost zero. “I’m alive!” he screams. “Open the door! I’m still here!” over and over again, until his throat feels raw, and his hands begin to swell and bruise from pounding against unyielding metal. “Please! Anyone! Help me!” The tears begin to affect his cries, until he’s practically begging.

Is this the end? He’d tried so hard to escape… but the longer it took, the more likely person who opened the door would be an enemy. In the end, he’d just be taken to another facility, or culled altogether. Maybe it would have been better if he’d died like the others…

Then, he hears it. The strange high-pitched noise of something hard scratching against metal. He leans forward against the door, face still wet with tears, to listen more closely. The sound erupts two feet over his head, this time with sight. A thin, blue-tinted blade pushes between the doors, making him jump back in surprise.

Someone had heard him after all…? The blade drags downward, prying the doors apart with a few grinding noises of objection from the machinery. His heart thumps hard in his chest. Unsure whether or not the person behind the door will be his savior or his doom, he is unable to turn away from the sight. Once the door opens more than a couple inches, he can see frost forming at the bottom and top of the door, holding it in place, then expanding and pushing it apart. The blade is not made of metal, he realizes, but ice.

As the door screeches open further, he’s able to see the face of the person who had come for him. It’s a man, eyes narrowed, gritting his teeth with effort. Blond, light-eyed, and clothed in a red coat. The man’s face is strangely familiar to him, in a way he can’t accurately describe.

He quickly dries his cheeks and, when his savior reaches out to him, takes his hand as quickly as he can. (…Savior? When had he become certain of that?) The man pulls him out of the stairway and into the light, into the surface world and freedom. With the crystalline crash of ice breaking and a _slam_ , the heavy door behind him comes to a close once more.

The very first thing he notices is the smell of the surrounding woods, wet and fragrant, and the press of thick grass matted under his knees. He pushes his fingers into the soil, marveling at its unevenness. Everything is so alive out here. Organic. _Real_. So different from the facility that was made up of smooth curves, straight lines and perfectly flat surfaces.

Hopefully his instinct is correct, and the person who rescued him is truly that, not someone planning an even worse fate for him. “T-thank you,” he stutters out, squinting against the sunlight for a better look at the man. Somehow, even the light is different. Warmer and brighter than the stale white lights of the lab.

Once his eyes adjust, he’s startled by the expression on the man’s face. His green eyes are wide and his lips part, the kind of expression the researchers had after receiving a totally unexpected result. That look usually meant more tests and more pain, until they obtained the answer they were looking for.

“Your name?” the man asks, voice trembling slightly.

Being put on the spot so suddenly makes him anxious. “S-” Sample Number 23, he is about to say, before he stops himself. _No._ He is away from that place, he is on the surface, and he will never answer to those words again. “I… I don’t have a name,” he replies, moving to cover the bracelet on his wrist.

“Then your name will be Ragna,” the man tells him. “You’ll stay with me from now on.”

He blinks a few times, replaying the words in his mind before they truly register. It can easily be a trap, a trick, but there’s an incredible sense of relief welling in his chest before he can resist it. He wouldn’t have to brave this new world alone and nameless.

“Okay,” Ragna says, slowly. He takes in the man now, his eyes instantly drawn to the red, sleeveless coat he wears, two whip-like straps of red cascading from the back. Though Ragna has never met this man before, he thinks the somewhat over-embellished design of the jacket is unfitting for him. Underneath it, his clothes are simple-– a tunic tied together at the waist over a long-sleeved shirt that matched his slacks, black and form-fitting.

“W-what…” Ragna’s voice comes out in a nervous stutter, so he closes his mouth and starts again, stronger. “What should I call you?”

A strange smile comes over the blond man’s handsome face, like it’s been a very long since anyone has ever asked him such a thing. “My name is Jin.”

The name strikes a chord within him. When Ragna quietly tries it out on his tongue, Jin’s eyes sharpen, and he inhales deeply. Surprised with the sound, but pleased. Ragna likes it, too.

“We should leave now, before anyone else comes,” Jin says. Ragna doesn’t know if he has the energy to do more than walk right now, but he doesn’t even have to open his mouth for Jin to crouch down, back turned toward him. “I’ll carry you. It’ll be quicker.” Unable to argue with those words, Ragna leans forward against him, clasping his hands together over Jin's shoulders.

Jin’s arms settle under his thighs, raising him up, and he starts off into the woods. Despite his quick trot, Jin carries Ragna like something he’s intent not to damage. Ragna tightens his grip slightly, his eyes scanning the new scenery with interest.

Jin’s back is incredibly warm. It makes Ragna feel comforted and uneasy at the same time.

 

It takes a week for them to get wherever Jin is taking him. An incredibly large city, sprawling up into the mountains, but instead of going upward, Jin takes him to a small, downward elevator on the lowest level. Underground. When Jin says they’ll be going to see a doctor, alarm bells are ringing in his head.

“It’s okay,” Jin tells him. “She won’t do anything while I’m there. I won’t let her. If you can’t stand it, or you get scared, we’ll leave. Alright?” Ragna can only nod stiffly, frozen as they only go further and further downward, eyes trained on the doors.

Jin says it’s so he can figure out if there’s anything wrong with him. The things they had done in the facility could have some effects on him, and if he needed any treatment, it would be better for him to receive it sooner rather than later.

The elevator opens. At least this lab is at least a far cry from the place Ragna had come from. There are papers and books strewn over tables and stacked onto chairs, adults chatting and typing on computers. It’s not sterile, lifeless white. He’s not… back there. Ragna releases the breath he’d been holding.

“Jin, is that you?” The voice belongs to a young woman, a beastkin dressed in orange. Ragna instinctively presses himself close to Jin’s side, trying to appear as small as possible while peeking at her. “What are you doing here?” she asks. Ragna’s gaze catches on the huge fluffy tail swaying behind her. A squirrel…?

“I need to see Kokonoe,” Jin tells her, wrapping one of his arms around Ragna’s shoulder. Her eyes are drawn to the movement, and she seems visibly startled at the sight of him.

She immediately looks at Jin again, concerned and confused as she asks, “Is that..?” Jin’s arm curls tighter around Ragna, and he says nothing in response. The woman seems to understand that that’s the only answer she’ll get, and turns away. “…I’ll get her.”

It’s only a few minutes before the person called Kokonoe arrives-– another beastkin girl, with cat ears and two tails, pink like her hair. Do a lot of them work in this place?

Kokonoe takes one look at them before she stares at Jin with one eyebrow raised high, and displeasure written clearly on her face. “What the hell is this?” The way she says it makes Ragna think she knows all about the place he came from. Something dark opens in the pit of his stomach. Even Ragna doesn’t know what really went on in the lab, nor the purpose he had for being born, tortured, and experimented on.

“I need you to examine him, just to be sure he’s… healthy.” Jin says the last word with a bit of hesitation. Ragna wonders what he was thinking about using before he changed his mind.

Kokonoe pulls a lollipop from inside her sleeves, unwraps it, and pops it into her mouth. Loudly exhaling through her nose, she spins on her heel and walks further into the compound. Jin eases Ragna along after her.

It’s down the hall into a large room with lots of vibrating equipment that make Ragna nervous all over again. Most don’t look like the ones he’s used to, but he still doesn’t want to go inside any of them.

“I can’t believe it…” Kokonoe grumbles as she yanks open a drawer and digs for a fresh syringe. “I’ll need the kid’s blood first.” Blood. Ragna tenses, but he holds out his arm, turning his head from the sight. He’s used to this, but it still hurts. What he didn’t have before, however, is Jin’s voice murmuring that it’ll be okay, and before he knows it, it’s over with. As Kokonoe leaves with the vial of his blood, Jin ties a small bandage around his arm.

“Will I have to take a scan?” Ragna finally asks when they’re alone. He really doesn’t want to, but if it’s necessary…

“It’ll be fine. Just a few minutes, and I’ll be with you the whole time.” Unhappy, Ragna nods slowly at Jin’s words.

“C'mon, kid,” Kokonoe glides back into the room, and flips on a switch beside one of her many computers. She pats the table next to it–- a large, flat slab with a mobile scanner hanging over it–- and says, “Just lay on your back and move until the red dot is in the center of your vision.”

This kind of scanner reminds Ragna of the lab, but in a relieving way. Though the researchers usually subjected him to an unpleasant number of injections beforehand, the actual scanning process didn’t hurt. Jin had said it wouldn’t be bad, so Ragna hopes it’ll be the scan alone this time. He crawls into position and lies still, eyes flicking back every now and then to where Jin stands, just to make sure. It’s over as quickly and painlessly as he'd been told.

“What’s the result?” Jin asks after a few minutes of Kokonoe silently scrolling through the received data.

Kokonoe sighs. “There’s a lot of information here, so it’ll take a couple hours to actually go through it all. Nothing strikes me off the bat. Blood test is what you’d expect.”

“I see,” Jin says flatly. Apparently, that’s not the reply that Kokonoe had expected, because she gives him a very long, very hard look.

Then, she scoffs. Shaking her head, she says, “You know, I thought there was something suspicious about it. The barrier broke, and you didn’t raise even a little bit of hell.” Her mouth quirks at the corner in a show of twisted amusement. “It was you, huh?”

“Does it matter?” Jin’s cutting voice again. While the one he uses with Ragna isn’t completely gentle, it’s definitely softer, more balanced. But right now, Jin’s face has returned to being unreadable, silently telling Kokonoe to back off, and that he doesn’t plan on answering any of her questions. …What kind of secrets does Jin have? Ragna can’t help wondering when he sees this side of Jin.

“Not really. I’ll let you know when I’ve got the results.” Kokonoe turns her attention back to the computer screen, waving one hand in a shooing motion.

 

They take the elevator back up to the surface. Ragna feels much better in the outside air, but he already doesn't like the noise and the crowds. There are so many signs and people, yelling about specials and deals, selling things Ragna has never seen before. He has to stick close to Jin so that he won’t get lost, and he really tries, but there is so much going on that he gets overwhelmed.

Jin’s face still has a hard edge to it, obviously lingering on whatever the conversation downstairs had meant, so Ragna doesn’t say anything about being tired. A flamboyantly dressed sign girl loudly yells about a sale and Ragna reflexively looks toward her. He has no idea what to do when he turns back to follow Jin’s familiar red coat, and it’s not there.

His heart stops in his chest. He scans the torrent of people coming and going, eyes wide, desperately searching, stopping on anything even slightly reddish. Of course, it’s not a smart idea to stop in the middle of such a busy street. Ragna finds himself being pushed even further from where he was until he can finally escape into a less crowded neighborhood.

Would Jin be able to find him here? Surely, he’d notice that he was missing soon enough, and start combing the street for him. Anxiety gnaws at Ragna as the minutes drag on. Jin… isn’t planning on abandoning him, is he? No… he can’t be. He wouldn’t. Not after going through all the trouble of running those tests. Besides, Jin had said it when they met, that Ragna would stay with him from now on. That meant a long time, right? Ragna trembles as he tries to calm himself down, his fingers clenching the fabric of his shirt.

“What seems to be the problem, young man?” comes a booming voice from behind him. Ragna jolts, not sure whether he’s being addressed or not. The possibility of someone affiliated with the lab recognizing him makes him duck his head lower, hoping to be ignored.

Unfortunately, the footsteps only get louder. “Fear not, lad, for I am Shishigami Bang, an honorable Ikaruga ninja!” Ragna isn’t sure if that’s supposed to reassure him, but… whoever it is sounds mostly harmless. The strange man named Bang lowers his voice and asks, “Now, why not tell me your troubles?”

Ragna bites his lip and takes a quick glance toward him. Bang is much bigger than he expected, but he appears to be genuinely concerned with him… Most of all, he definitely doesn’t fit the profile for someone who would be involved with the research facility. Maybe he would be able to help? If he’s a local, maybe he knows somewhere he would be able to find Jin. “I… got separated,” Ragna says finally, trying to steady his voice. “I’ve never been here before.”

“I see, so you’re lost! That’s nothing to be afraid of.” Those words calm Ragna slightly; he lifts his head and turns to face Bang. “So, who is it you-–” Bang’s voice suddenly cuts off once his eyes meet Ragna’s, his mouth gaping wide. Does Bang recognize him after all? Adrenaline pumps through his veins, body tightening like a spring, ready to run if he has to. But, the shocked look fades from Bang’s face. “Ahem, my apologies.” He gives a sheepish smile and says, “You just… resemble a man I once knew.”

_“When we tried to alter the genes too much, the samples became… unstable. That’s why Samples 20 through 25 are closer to the control clones.”_

A sense of dread fills him. Jin’s strange demeanor when he’d first saw him. The reactions he’d gotten from the women in the lab downstairs. Ragna’s breaths come in quicker, too light to do any real good. “C-can you tell me about him?”

Bang has a thoughtful frown on his lips. “I don’t know very much, but-–”

Before he can say another word, a burst of ice explodes between them. Ragna recognizes it instantly, and turns toward the source. “Jin!” The amount of relief that comes from the sight of his red jacket is unbelievable; it almost makes him forget about Bang entirely, at least until he sees the look of pure anger Jin directs toward the man.

“Jin Kisaragi!” Bang’s voice is louder than before. “I should have known you were involved in this!”

Jin’s mouth curls into a deep scowl and he lunges forward, drawing his ice blade out in the same movement. Ragna knows what’s about to happen, and while he doesn’t know all the reasons, he knows a big one is because of him. “Jin, stop!” His voice is still fragile, cracking, but he’s able to grab the corner of Jin’s coat as he dashes by.

It’s enough to distract him. Jin’s eyes flick down toward him, though he doesn’t change his stance. “Mr. Bang was just trying to help me, because I got lost!” Ragna tells him, sure that Jin is at least half-listening to him.

“What have you done, Jin Kisaragi?” Bang shouts out, taking a defensive stance. Those words twist Ragna in two directions. He wants to insist that Jin hadn’t done anything wrong, but… he doesn’t know anything about Jin or his reasons. Even so, he has the urge to protect him from any accusations.

“Hmph.” Jin stares at Bang for a long time, then straightens and sheathes his blade. A small sigh escapes Ragna’s lips. Jin’s hand settles on his head, gently petting his hair. “He won’t believe me if I tell him, you know,” Jin says, looking down at him.

Bang still seems unsure, even with Jin standing normally. Swallowing down any lingering jitters, Ragna speaks, “Jin saved me. He saved my life, so… he’s not a bad person. He’s who I was looking for. Whatever you’re mad about, it’s not Jin’s fault!”

Bang’s expression becomes even more uncertain, bewildered by Ragna’s defense, but ultimately surrendering. Ragna is relieved that the tension has mostly dispersed between them, and that they wouldn’t begin a battle right in front of him. He just wishes he and Bang had been able to finish their conversation. Jin’s interruption had taken away his chance. Bang meets Jin’s eyes, and says, mysteriously, “I sincerely hope you realize that you cannot change what has already been done.”

A incredibly bitter, wild laugh is the response. The sound is so warped that Ragna’s skin crawls. He doesn’t want to believe that Jin is the one making it. “That’s rich, coming from you.” Jin’s voice is deeper, rough, like it’s rubbing against something jagged and angry in his throat. He grips Ragna’s shoulder, and turns, clearly finished with Bang.

“Let’s go,” he says. There’s a lingering edge to it.

When Ragna finally works up the nerve to peek, Jin has that expression again, frowning, brows furrowed. Ragna doesn’t argue with him as they go back into the streets, holding tightly at the edge of Jin’s coat at they walk. He doesn’t know if he likes the side of Jin he just saw. It’s a stark reminder that he hardly knows Jin, no matter what strange feelings he has about him. Maybe… Jin isn’t as trustworthy as he’d first thought.

They walk in silence for a long time, until Jin reaches down toward Ragna’s hand, easing it from his coat. At first, Ragna thinks he’s done something wrong. That Jin’s angry at him for getting lost and clinging to him, but Jin doesn’t let go. “It’s easier like this,” he says. Ragna remembers being led by the hand sometimes, by scientists, the heavy monitor over his face making it difficult to see anything. This, however, feels much better. Ragna squeezes Jin’s hand, and he squeezes back, giving Ragna a small, tight smile.


End file.
